Kewanee Cottage Boiler Age Estimate

old4square

We are in the process of trying to sell our house and we've had a lot of questions regarding the age of the boiler. We honestly have no idea as when we bought it, the resident boiler expert said it didn't matter because of we kept it in good working order, it could run forever. This would be fine if we didn't have to try to prove it wasn't an issue for a buyer.

Anyone have any guesses how old it might be?

EBEBRATT-Ed

!940s would be my best guess.

Steamhead

Or early 1950s. But boilers from that era were built like tanks, so there really is nothing to worry about. Just have it serviced properly.

Where are you located? We might know someone…….

DCContrarian

Looking at the labels and the way the city and state are spelled out makes me think 1950's at the latest. In 1943 the Post Office introduced postal zones, and large cities were divided up into zones. So after that era when giving an address you would say something like "Syracuse 3, NY" rather than just "Syracuse, NY."

In 1963 the Post Office introduced zip codes and two-letter state abbreviations. They came into widespread use pretty quickly.

Ironman

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/197923/kewanee-cottage-boiler-age-estimate

Trying to prove that a 70+ year old boiler won’t have any issues is an impossibility.

It’s true the block is built like a tank, but proper maintenance, water conditions and other factors also contribute to its life. There’s also the issue of efficiency. That thing was probably 60% efficient the day it was installed, maybe less. A new mod/con boiler is 95% efficient and people are very energy conscious now days.

At 70+ years old, I would insist on the cost of replacement being deducted from the price of the home if I were the buyer.

leonz

Speaking as a homeowner I am sure your home had a hand fed coal boiler with larger boiler tapping's and a great deal of thermal mass before this gas fired boiler was installed.

Are your radiators used as individual expansion tanks leaving an air charge in each radiator rather than using an open to air expansion tank in the top floor or the attic???

The large diameter piping above the boiler allows the hot water flow slowly and evenly to all the radiators in your home. There are a more than a handful of cast iron boilers with large pipe tapping's offered for home heating that could replace it.

I guess you are at the point where you could replace the boiler with the right one with the same size tapping's, new low water cut off switch and water feed valve and a single new clamp on aquastat to control the water temperature maintaining the heating systems simplicity and add that to the homes purchase cost. The installation of a new low water cut off switch in one of side tapping's of the new boiler will protect the new boiler and maintain plumbing code compliance.

mattmia2

How old is the house? It looks a lot like it was installed as the last of the gravity systems and originally with the conversion burner and that is the original boiler.

Big Ed_4

It's a early 50's gas package ..

old4square

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1811378#Comment_1811378

Cedar Falls, IA. We love our boiler and radiant heat system, it's just a scary unknown thing for a lot of potential buyers.

old4square

1912 American Four Square in Iowa. It looks like it was a coal-fed system that was retrofitted to use gas at some point.

Big Ed_4

It never was coal

mattmia2

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1812217#Comment_1812217

that replaced a coal boiler. either that or it didn't have central heat until that was installed in the 30's through 50's. that particular boiler was always gas. if it is a more modest house it might have been heated by a stove or a floor furnace originally.